Cooke was appointed Manager of the England Rugby Union Team in October 1987 and led the England Rugby team in 49 international matches between 1987 and 1994 including two tours to Australia/Fiji and one to Argentina.
In 1993 he was made Manager of the British Lions rugby union tour to New Zealand.
Back in the amateur ranks he rejoined his former club, Bradford & Bingley as Director of Rugby, guiding them to promotion to North One in his first season and then taking them straight through in 2003-04 to a second successive promotion to National League Three (North) and also winning the Intermediate Cup at Twickenham.
After retiring from active coaching he served as Executive Director of First Division Rugby Limited, the collective organisation of sixteen clubs that competed in National League 1 of the English Rugby Union Clubs Championship until superseded by the present Championship.
Now fully retired he was President and Chairman of the Directors of Bracken Ghyll Golf Club in Addingham, Yorkshire from 2011 to 2013.